Revelation

There is a need for tradition to have revelation because without the tradition that religions have of teaching people revelations, no one would ever know if they were having a one. This is why it is important to have a tradition that carries on the stories about revelation because people recognizing a revelation and hearing stories about them facilitates people having more faith in God. Some stories that have scenes of revelation in them are Portier's story on "Super Thrift," Malcolm X's chapter on going to the hajj, and Flannery O'Connor's "Revelation". I used these stories because these stories are stories that encourage people to have faith in a God because of the revelations shown.

Revelation is simply God's self-communication with an individual or a whole community. Part of many religions deal with the stories of revelations such as Moses and Arjuna. As stated in Portier's book, "Many religions, especially the scriptured ones, do have some operative and significant notion of revelation" (Portier 81). It is important to have these teachings because someone who has neither been to church nor bares an education on the topic would have no idea if they were to witness a revelation. For a revelation to occur one must be around or hear of the tradition people have that deals with the sacred. God's self-communication with a person or persons is what makes them feel they have a bond with a higher power and allows them to keep from questioning God's existence, rather they believe it through faith.

These stories also show people how they should be acting if they want to be looked at as a faithful worshiper of God. Some stories such as "The Angel of Super Thrift" do not just show an example of revelation but also show people how they should expect God to appear. Revelations also show people what is looked at as good and bad when it comes not only to an apostolic tradition but also to whichever traditions a person's religion carries.

Mrs. Turpin, the main character in Flannery O'Connor's book, went to church every Sunday and prayed daily. She viewed her life as being Christian-centered. If Mrs. Turpin had never gone to church, she most likely would not have recognized the two life changing events that happened to her. In Flannery O'Connor's "Revelation" there are two different examples of revelation. The first revelation is when she gets attacked in the waiting room and is told to go back to hell by a young girl. The second time was when Mrs. Turpin had a vision of all the people walking in lines but the people who she saw as the lower class where first and the people of upper class where last, with her. This line resembled a line towards heaven. If she had never heard of revelation she would have most likely thought the attack was just some crazy person off their medications and the vision was just a strange dream and then she would have most likely just gone on with her life. Before this happened she had thought she was on the right path towards heaven. But after it finally hit her that all her judging of people, such as the African-Americans, was not something of which God approves. Although she was a practicing Catholic when it, it did not make up for how she had been treated people. As this story is carried on in books and stories, it will inspire people to become good human beings because everyone who worships God wants to see themselves in heaven. After hearing how Mrs. Turpin was not seen as a person going to heaven it will motivate people to not act in the same manor she did. This story was a great example of revelation because it shows people two different types of a revelation, analytical and dialectical, and also teaches people how they should and should not act.

The second story was about Malcolm X's chapter on going to the hajj. Malcolm X takes up an Islamic tradition and becomes Muslim.